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Ambulance response times to Rosemount have improved

Last year, ambulance response times to Rosemount were higher than other cities in Dakota County. At the time, mayor Bill Droste sent a letter to HealthEast, the city's ambulance provider, asking the company to look into the matter.

Last week, HealthEast had good things to report about their service to Rosemount. HealthEast ambulance operations manager Jeff Groess told the council during a work session that the company has had "significant reductions" in response times.

HealthEast provides ambulance services to Rosemount and several surrounding communities. The company answered 24,000 calls in 2012. Rosemount made up approximately 3 percent of those calls.

To better serve Rosemount, HealthEast changed the city from a level five priority city to a level four. That change seems to have helped. Additionally, trucks were moved around to put them in a better position to respond in Rosemount.

Currently the company averages 8 minutes and 59 seconds on responses in Rosemount. That is down from an average of 11 minutes and 35 seconds in 2011. Groess said the company made changes to make gradual improvements through 2012.

The 8 minutes and 59 second average is still one of the slowest response times in the area but the difference isn't nearly as great.

When asked why Rosemount responses are slower, Groess responded that Rosemount is hard to get into. However, he added that HealthEast will move an ambulance to Eagan Fire Station No. 4 in hopes that that will help bring down response times some more.

HealthEast is contacted by the Dakota Communications Center for calls. Groess said there is some lag between the DCC getting called and their communications with the company. He hopes the two organizations will be able to sync up their systems eventually, but for now there remains some delay.

Operations director Laura Olson said the company wanted to show the city that progress was being made.

Both police chief Eric Werner and fire chief Scott Aker said they were satisfied with the adjustments made by HealthEast. Generally in Rosemount, police are the first on the scene of any emergency.

Droste said he was happy to see the progress but also asked that the company touch base again in the fall.

Emily Zimmer has worked as a staff writer for the Rosemount Town Pages since 2007. She has a degree in journalism from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Outside of work, Emily enjoys running, reading and gardening.
You can follow Emily's gardening adventures at the Areavoices blog East of Weedin'.